The Terrestrial Planets

Section 2 Prentice Hall Earth Science The Terrestrial Planets

23.2 Objectives • Describe the distinguishing characteristics of each terrestrial planet

The Terrestrial Planets In January 2004, the space rover, Spirit, bounced onto the rock littered surface of Mars, known as the Red Planet Spirit and its companion rover, Opportunity, were on the Red Planet to study minerals and geological processes, both past and present

The Terrestrial Planets They also searched for signs of liquid water—such as eroded rocks or dry stream channels on Mar’s surface For the next few months, the rovers sent back to Earth numerous images and chemical analysis of Mars’s surface

The Terrestrial Planets Much of what we learn about the planets has been gathered by rovers, such as Spirit, or space probes that travel to the far reaches of the solar system, such as Voyager In this section, we’ll explore three terrestrial planets –Mercury, Venus, and Mars—and see how they compare with the fourth terrestrial planet—Earth

Mercury: The Innermost Planet Mercury, the innermost and second smallest planet, is hardly larger than Earth’s moon and is smaller than three other moons in the solar system Like our own moon, it absorbs most of the sunlight that strikes it and reflects only 6% of sunlight back into space

Mercury: The Innermost Planet This low percentage of reflection is characteristic of terrestrial bodies that have no atmosphere Earth, on the other hand, reflects about 30% of the light that strikes it Most of this reflection is from clouds

Surface Features Mercury has cratered highlands, much like the moon, and vast smooth terrains that resemble maria Unlike the moon, however, Mercury is a very dense planet, which implies that it contains a large iron core for its size

Surface Features Mercury also has very long scarps (deep slopes) that cut across the plains and craters alike These scarps may have resulted from crustal changes as the planet cooled and shrank

Surface Temperature Mercury revolves around the sun quickly, but it rotates slowly On Mercury, one rotation requires 179 Earth-days Thus, a night on Mercury lasts for about three months and is followed by three months of daylight

Surface Temperature Nighttime temperatures drop as low as -173°C, and noontime temperatures exceed 427°C—hot enough to melt lead Mercury has the greatest temperature extremes of any planet The odds of life as we know it existing on Mercury are almost nonexistent

Venus: The Veiled Planet Venus, second only to the moon in brilliance in the night sky, is named for the goddess of love and beauty It orbits the sun in a nearly perfect circle once every 255 Earth-days Venus is similar to Earth in size, density, mass, and location in the solar system

Venus: The Veiled Planet Thus, it has been referred to as “Earth’s twin” Because of these similarities, it is hoped that a detailed study of Venus will provide geologists with a better understanding of Earth’s history

Surface Features Venus is covered in thick clouds that visible light cannot penetrate Nevertheless, radar mapping by the uncrewedMagellan spacecraft and by instruments on Earth have revealed a varied topography with features somewhat between those of Earth and Mars

Surface Features To map Venus, radar pulses are sent toward the planet’s surface, and the heights of plateaus and mountains are measured by timing the return of the radar echo These data have confirmed that basaltic volcanism and tectonic activity shape Venus’s surface Based on the density of impact craters, these forces must have been very active during the recent geologic past

Surface Features About 80% of Venus’s surface consists of plains covered by volcanic flows Some lava channels extend hundreds of kilometers—one is 6800 kilometers long

Surface Features Scientists have identified thousands of volcanic structures Most are small shield volcanoes, although more than 1500 volcanoes greater than 20 kilometers across have been mapped

Surface Features One of these volcanoes is Sapa Mons, which is 400 kilometers across and 1.5 kilometers high Flows from this volcano mostly erupted from its flanks rather than its summit, in the manner of Hawaiian shield volcanoes

Surface Features Only 8% of Venus’s surface consists of highlands that may be similar to continental area on Earth Tectonic activity on Venus seems to be driven by upwelling and downwelling of material in the planet’s interior The processes of plate tectonics do not appear to have contributed to Venus’s present topography

Surface Temperature Before the advent of spacecraft, Venus was considered to be a possible habitat for living things However, evidence from space probes indicates otherwise The surface temperature of Venus reaches 475°C, and its atmosphere is 97% carbon dioxide

Surface Temperature Only small amounts of water vapor and nitrogen have been detected Venus’s atmosphere contains a cloud layer about 25 kilometers thick The atmospheric pressure is 90 times that at Earth’s surface This hostile environment makes it unlikely that life as we know it exists on Venus

Mars: The Red Planet Mars has evoked greater interest than any other planet Mars is easy to observe, which may explain why so many people are fascinated by it The surfaces of all other planets within telescopic range are hidden by clouds—except for Mercury, whose nearness to the sun makes viewing it difficult

Mars: The Red Planet Mars is known as the Red Planet because it appears as a reddish ball when viewed through a telescope Mars also has some dark regions that change intensity during the Martian year The most prominent telescopic features of Mars are its brilliant white polar caps

The Martian Atmosphere The Martian atmosphere has only 1% the density of Earth’s It is made up primarily of carbon dioxide with tiny amounts of water vapor Data from Mars probes confirm that the polar caps of Mars are made of water ice, covered by a thin layer of frozen carbon dioxide As winter nears in either hemisphere, temperatures drop to -125°C, and additional carbon dioxide is deposited

The Martian Atmosphere Although the atmosphere of Mars is very thin, extensive dust storms occur and may cause the color changes observed from Earth The hurricane-force winds up to 270 kilometers per hour can persist for weeks Images from Spirit reveal a Martian landscape remarkably similar to a rocky desert on Earth, with abundant sand dunes and impact craters partially filled with dust

Surface Features Mariner 9, the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, reached Mars in 1971 amid a raging dust storm When the dust cleared, images of Mars’ northern hemisphere revealed numerous large volcanoes

Surface Features The biggest, Mons Olympus, is the size of Ohio and is 23 kilometers high—over two and a half times higher than Mount Everest This gigantic volcano and others resemble Hawaiian shield volcanoes on Earth

Surface Features Most Martian surface features are old by Earth standards The highly cratered southern hemisphere is probably 3.5 billion to 4.5 billion years old Even the relatively “fresh” volcanic features of the northern hemisphere may be older than 1 billion years

Surface Features Another surprising find made by Mariner 9 was the existence of several canyons that are much larger than Earth’s Grand Canyon One of the largest is VallesMarineris It is thought to have formed by slippage of material along huge faults in the crustal layer In respect, it would be comparable to the rift valleys of Africa

Water on Mars Some areas of Mars exhibit drainage patterns similar to those created by streams on Earth The rover Opportunity, for example, found evidence of evaporite minerals and geologic formations associated with liquid water Viking images have revealed ancient island sin what is now a dry streambed

Water on Mars When these streamlike channels were first discovered, some observers speculated that a thick water-laden atmosphere capable of generating torrential downpours once existed on Mars The present Martian atmosphere contains only traces of water

Water on Mars Images from the Mars Global Surveyor indicate that groundwater has recently migrated to the surface These spring-like seeps have created gullies where they emerge from valley and crater walls

Water on Mars Some of the escaping water may have initially frozen due to the average Martian temperatures that range between -70°C and -100°C Eventually, however, it seeped out as a slurry of sediment, ice, and liquid that formed the gullies

Water on Mars Many scientists do not accept the theory that Mars once had an active water cycle similar to Earth’s Rather, they believe that most of the large stream-like valleys were created by the collapse of surface material caused by the slow melting of subsurface ice

Water on Mars Data from Opportunity, however, indicates that some areas were “drenched” in water It will take scientists many months, if not years, to analyze the data gathered by the latest Mars mission Because water is an essential ingredient for life, scientists and nonscientists alike are enthusiastic about exploring this phenomenon

The Terrestrial Planets